The Compassionate Coalition

CA Supreme Court to Hear Medical Marijuana Right to Work Case - Oral arguments scheduled for November 6 at 9am in Sacramento in Ross v. RagingWire case

Sacramento, CA -- Gary Ross, a 45-year old disabled veteran and a medical marijuana patient living in Carmichael, California, is at the forefront of a landmark employment case, with significant ramifications for patients in California and across the country. Ross was fired in September 2001 for failing an employer-mandated drug test while working as a systems engineer for RagingWire Telecommunications, Inc. The California Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the Ross v. RagingWire case on Thursday, November 6 at 9am in Sacramento.

What: Oral arguments before the California Supreme Court on the right to work for medical marijuana patients in the case of Ross v. RagingWire. When: Tuesday, November 6 at 9am. Where: Stanley Mosk Library and Courts Building, 914 Capitol Mall, Sacramento. Who: Statements will be made immediately succeeding the hearing by plaintiff Gary Ross, Americans for Safe Access Chief Counsel Joe Elford, and attorney Stewart Katz (both are co-counsel in the case).

“Neither the People of California nor the state legislature intended to exclude medical marijuana patients from a productive workforce,” said Joe Elford, Chief Counsel with Americans for Safe Access (ASA), who will argue as co-counsel before the State Supreme Court. “California must continue its leadership role in protecting disabled workers,” continued Elford. “The Court must rule on the side of Ross, and on the side of thousands of California patients that risk discrimination on a daily basis.”

Full article: http://www.safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=5185

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Want to get a text-message on your cell phone when a local raid is happening? -Then join the Sacramento Emergency Response Text-Message list! We're looking for patients and supporters to sign up for this service and show up to protest when a raid happens. Please help defend our local dispensaries and patients from DEA persecution. Sign up here: http://www.compassionatecoalition.org/forums-418

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Attention Sacramento County Medical Cannabis Patients! - Safe Access Now, along with local medical cannabis patients, is currently lobbying the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors to implement the statewide medical marijuana ID card program. Participation in the program would be entirely voluntary for patients and their caregivers; however, the county is required by law to offer the cards to qualified residents. Once the program is in place, patients and their caregivers will be able to obtain the ID cards through a confidential program administered by the Department of Health. The program works to protect cardholders from unnecessary arrest, detainment, or the seizure of medicine by state and local law enforcement.

In order for us to ensure that this vital program will be made available to Sacramento County patients, we need your help! If you are a resident of Sacramento County, please take a few minutes to visit http://snipurl.com/sac_action1 to e-mail the board of Supervisors urging their support for the local implementation of the ID card program. If you do not live in Sacramento County, please forward this alert to any friends, family or coworkers you might have in Sacramento. After you have sent your e-mail, please contact Safe Access Now's Aaron Smith at (866) 204-1341 or safeaccessnow@gmail.com to find out how you can become more involved in our efforts to protect Sacramento County's patients. With your support, implementation of our state's compassionate medical marijuana laws will be a reality! To e-mail the Board of Supervisor's, please visit: http://snipurl.com/sac_action1

Aaron Smith, Statewide Coordinator
Safe Access Now
Ph: (866) 287-6792 - Fx: (866) 204-1341
safeaccessnow@gmail.com
http://www.safeaccessnow.com

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Sacramento ASA Meeting: November 6th: Please join Sac ASA to plan for the future of safe access locally, statewide, and nationally! Note: Sac ASA now meets on the first Tuesday of each month at 7:00 p.m. at Crusaders Hall, 320 Harris Avenue, Suite H, Sacramento, CA. For more information or to get involved, please contact Lanette: cannacare@earthlink.net

Ventura Second Safe Access Now Town Hall Meeting: November 18: Sunday, November 18, Safe Access Now will be hosting its second town hall meeting for local medical marijuana patients, caregivers and advocates. Currently Ventura County is not issuing California’s medical marijuana ID card and patients are left at risk of false arrest or seizure of property. This strategic planning meeting is the first step in our campaign to protect local patients by implementing the ID program in the Ventura County. Please attend this important meeting to help support patients’ rights in Ventura County! Details: Sunday, November 18th: 4 to 6 PM at the Foster Library (private meeting room), 651 E. Main St. (between Fir & Chestnut) in Ventura, CA. For more information, contact Aaron Smith at safeaccessnow@gmail.com

Colorado Chapter Meeting: November 19th: The CO. North Denver Medical Marijuana Discussion is every 3rd Monday, at the Front Range Community College LIBRARY, 3705 W 112th Ave Westminster, CO80031-2140, Room L211, from 7pm to 9pm. For more information contact Tim Tipton at (303)438-7221 or email him at TTipper39@hotmail.com or join the Meetup: http://medmarijuana.meetup.com/119/

New Schedule - National Compassionate Coalition Meeting: November 20th: Following the raid on River City Patient Center, our meetings will now be moved to Crusader Hall, on the third Tuesday of each month. Supporters from Sacramento, Solano, and beyond are invited to join us to discuss our overall strategy for defending patients rights; agenda items will include: Responding to DEA raids, the ID Card program, educating public officials, court support, business items, and more. This group now meets at 7:00PM at Crusader Hall, 320 Harris Avenue, Suite H, Sacramento, CA. For more information contact nathan@CompassionateCoalition.org or (916) 709-2483.

AAMC Meeting: November 24th: The El Dorado County American Alliance for Medical Cannabis meets on the fourth Saturday of each month from 2:15pm until 4:20pm, at the Garden Valley Grange, 4940 Marshall Road, Garden Valley, California. For more information email visit www.ElDoradoCountyAAMC.com

Check out the Oaksterdam News calendar for all meetings, events and more: http://oaksterdamnews.com/WebCalendar/month.php

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News Updates:

*Comments Needed* - SacPD Blog: "Medical Marijuana: Fact or Farce?": http://blog.sacpd.org/?p=376

DEA Raids Hayward Dispensaries, but Activists Don’t Stand Down: http://safeaccessnow.org/blog/?p=34

Feds go after wildly successful medical pot sellers: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/05/BA90T4PQP.DTL&hw=matier&sn=001&sc=1000

More News Updates from ASA: http://www.safeaccessnow.org/article.php?list=type&type=36

More News Updates from NORML: http://norml.org/index.cfm?wtm_view=daily_news

More News Updates from The Compassionate Coalition: http://www.compassionatecoalition.org/forum

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The Compassionate Coalition is an all-volunteer, non-profit, educational organization. We work to defend the rights of medical marijuana patients and care providers, and your support enables our work to continue. Please consider making a donation today: http://www.compassionatecoalition.org/donate

Thank you for helping to defend patients' rights!

Nathan Sands
Communications Director, Sacramento Chapter Representative
The Compassionate Coalition
1500 Oliver Road, Ste-K, P.M.B. #248 Fairfield, CA 94533
www.CompassionateCoalition.org
Email: nathan@CompassionateCoalition.org
Phone: (916) 709-2483

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